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10:01am Tuesday 6th July 2010
A GUNMAN terrified a doorman and a woman he was trying to chat up in a Southampton nightclub.
High on drink and drugs, Karl Powell threatened to use the weapon he had tucked into the waistband of his trousers.
The drama began when the would-be chef saw Philippa Griffith on the dance floor of Junk nightclub in London Road and putting her hand on the waistband, told her: “If anyone talks to you, I’ll shoot them and shoot your face off.”
Prosecutor Siobhan Linsley told the city crown court she was absolutely terrifed when she realised he was armed and went with him to the bar when he bought her a drink.
However, she managed to whisper a message to a friend and doorman Jason Harris came up behind, put his arms around his middle and realised he had a gun.
During a struggle, Powell turned and threatened him: “If you don’t let go, I’ll shoot you.”
The bouncer feared “this was it” and believed he was going to be shot. When a friend of Powell’s intervented, the doorman managed to pull the gun from his waistband. He was ejected from the premises and arrested by police.
The gun transpired to be a gaspropelled BB gun.
Powell, 27, of Oxford Avenue, admitted two counts of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and was jailed for four years.
Hearing he had two previous convictions for similar offences, Judge Hooton commented: “You have a fondness for frightening people with a gun. It wasn’t loaded but people around you in the bar thought it was a real gun and the girl was terrified.”
Matthew Jewell, defending, said Powell had been drinking and taken cocaine and could not remember what had happened.
“But he was brave enough to accept the evidence of others.
“He had removed the gun from someone else in his company earlier that evening. It must have been the worst and most misguided attempt to chat up a girl imaginable.
“The gun was never removed from his waistband and was in a plastic bag. It didn’t have any pellets or any gas in the canister, though he can now understand the fear people would have felt.”
StEmmosfire, Woolston says...
10:15am Tue 6 Jul 10
GoodnessGraciousMe, Totton says...
10:15am Tue 6 Jul 10
hulla baloo, Turkey says...
10:32am Tue 6 Jul 10
StEmmosfire wrote:Hang them.
He was trying to chat up a doorman as well! Would be chef = McDonalds. He can only chat up a girl by threatening to shoot her! What a complete and utter waste of blood and guts this parasite is! He should be charged as if it was a real gun, as I am sure if he could get hold of one it would have been. Prison wont do anything to sort this moron out, what do we do with people like this?
G0Rf, SaaaafHampton says...
10:54am Tue 6 Jul 10
bigmonkeyman, r.monk519@btinternet.com says...
11:01am Tue 6 Jul 10
Shoong, Winchester says...
11:10am Tue 6 Jul 10
Day Dreamer, Puerto Banus says...
11:16am Tue 6 Jul 10
Lone Ranger, Southampton says...
11:28am Tue 6 Jul 10
DCM, Southampton says...
11:33am Tue 6 Jul 10
Lone Ranger wrote:Did you actually read what Ken Clarke said before you wrote this nonsense?
Are we right to assume that Ken Clarke would prefer it if this nutter was not put into prision as i understand that evidently it doesn't work !!
Lone Ranger, Southampton says...
11:38am Tue 6 Jul 10
DCM wrote:Did it actually take you the full five minutes to bite
Lone Ranger wrote:Did you actually read what Ken Clarke said before you wrote this nonsense?
Are we right to assume that Ken Clarke would prefer it if this nutter was not put into prision as i understand that evidently it doesn't work !!
mbetts, says...
11:43am Tue 6 Jul 10
StEmmosfire, Woolston says...
11:52am Tue 6 Jul 10
Day Dreamer wrote:yep, and usually criminals themselves, they have ways of getting around the licences issues. Just look at the bloke in the press now that shot his ex girlfriend and cop... ex bouncer!
How ironic in a club called Junk! Well done doorstaff, check all the young girls id and use your pathetic "chat up lines" whilst in the meantime let the wannabes get in with guns! Door staff as proved by the recent national news are normally idiots!!!
Higginz, Southampton says...
11:58am Tue 6 Jul 10
St.DaveH, Shirleyboy says...
12:25pm Tue 6 Jul 10
Stiofan, Southampton says...
1:30pm Tue 6 Jul 10
DCM, Southampton says...
1:43pm Tue 6 Jul 10
Lone Ranger wrote:No - I thought about my comment before I wrote it. Something you clearly didn't do.
DCM wrote:Did it actually take you the full five minutes to biteLone Ranger wrote: Are we right to assume that Ken Clarke would prefer it if this nutter was not put into prision as i understand that evidently it doesn't work !!Did you actually read what Ken Clarke said before you wrote this nonsense?
Lone Ranger, Southampton says...
2:42pm Tue 6 Jul 10
DCM wrote:Unlike your other posts.
Lone Ranger wrote:No - I thought about my comment before I wrote it. Something you clearly didn't do.
DCM wrote:Did it actually take you the full five minutes to biteLone Ranger wrote: Are we right to assume that Ken Clarke would prefer it if this nutter was not put into prision as i understand that evidently it doesn't work !!Did you actually read what Ken Clarke said before you wrote this nonsense?
forcaster, spain says...
2:46pm Tue 6 Jul 10
samantha pia, millbrook says...
2:58pm Tue 6 Jul 10
RadicalEmu, Southampton says...
3:03pm Tue 6 Jul 10
forcaster wrote:Actually, they did. The cane in schools was no deterrent either.
Sorry folk,I am 86 in my younger days we flogged them with the birch,tell you what they never re-offended after that.BRING BACK THE BIRCH and sod the do gooders.
durkiboy, townhill says...
5:02pm Tue 6 Jul 10
Atpost, Minstead says...
7:31pm Tue 6 Jul 10
eisman84, Sholing says...
1:37pm Tue 27 Jul 10
forcaster wrote:Difference being in your day they didnt have such a thing as Human Rights.......which has changed things for the better in the whole
Sorry folk,I am 86 in my younger days we flogged them with the birch,tell you what they never re-offended after that.BRING BACK THE BIRCH and sod the do gooders.
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Ted Rogers, Winchester says...
10:15am Tue 6 Jul 10